1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for comprehensively managing a mass of papers handled by various client apparatuses, and more particularly, to a system for managing identification information of each sheet of paper in a comprehensive and centralized manner via a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique for acquiring contents designated by an optical pen on a touch panel is already known. For example, JPA7-141104 discloses a technique of detecting the coordinates of the object selected on the panel using an optical pen. Based on the coordinates, the position and contents of the image information associated with the selected object are specified.
On the other hand, another technique for reading handwritten contents from paper in real-time without using a tablet and for combining the electronic data of the handwriting with the original document is disclosed in JPA2000-293303. In this publication, the user can correct and revise the text printed on paper, using a pen having a micro-camera. The paper bears a symbol representing the coordinate information of the paper, which is printed together with the text. As the user writes on the paper, the micro-camera optically reads the symbol and the handwriting from the paper, thereby acquiring the tracks of the handwriting.
In order to specify which document is revised, the document identification (ID) is encoded, and buried in the symbol together with the coordinate information. The document ID is, for example, a local file name or a serial number associated with the file name. In the latter case, the correspondence between the file name and the serial number is recorded in a table or other suitable means.
The table administration employed in this prior art technique premises stand-alone management, and is unsuitable for a network system. This is because the document ID and the associated file name are generally local ones, and therefore, they cannot be used uniquely on the network.
Then, a technique for managing document identification information over a network is proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-289201, which is commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application. With this technique, access to the management server is unlimited, and accordingly, problems occur in connection with the server resources.